Boring type mining machine having cutter chain cusp removing means



Dec. 8, 1959 F. CARTLIDGE ETAL 2,916,273

BORING TYPE MINING MACHINE HAVING CUTTER CHAIN cusp REMOVING MEANS Filed June 11, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 a R k R v om M L a A x Ml 9w .T U, M|m w H,.\ I. Q W .8 m \m m9. k R Q \l R D I I on 3 h MN 3 K nu E G T t w m\ i II a I z a mm 3 Q R 8, mw TIL. Q x 2 mm mm a :m 39 hll .N I 9w W RVNHWH Kqw P ll Q mm E on Q g S Q ww INVENTOR. Frank Carflidge Joseph Gonski TORNEY F. CARTLIDGE ETAL 2,916,273 BORING TYPE MINING MACHINE HAVING CUTTER CHAIN CUSP REMOVING MEANS Dec. 8, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 11, 1957 ]NVENTOR Frank Carchdge y Joseph Gonski a gem,

ATTORNEY Fig. 4

United States Patent BORING TYPE MINING MACHINE HAVING CUTIER CHAIN CUSP REMOVING MEANS Frank Cartlidge and Joseph Gonski, Chicago, 11]., assiguors to Goodman Manufacturing Company, Chicago, 11L, a corporation of Illinois Application June 11, 1957, Serial No. 665,065

1 Claim. (Cl. 2627) This invention relates to improvements in continuous mining machines of the boring type particularly adapted for operation in low seams of coal.

A principal object of the invention is to provide a low compact continuous mining machine of the boring type for coal and the like arranged with a view toward efiicient operation in low seams of coal.

A further object of the invention is to provide a continuous mining machine for coal and the like in which a plurality of boring heads arranged in side by side relation with respect to each other bore into the coal face in overlapping relation with respect to each other, leaving cusps of unmined coal depending from the roof and extending upwardly from the floor between the bores, in which the gathering mechanism for picking up the mined coal from the ground serves to cut out the cusps of unmined coal extending upwardly from the floor, during the gathering and loading operation.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a boring type of continuous mining machine having a plurality of rotating boring heads cutting in overlapping relation with respect to each other and leaving cusps between the boring cutters depending from the mine roof and extending upwardly from the mine floor, and utilizing cutter chain carrying cutter bars for gathering the mined coal and loading it onto the discharge conveyor of the machine and arranged in alignment with the spaces between the rotary boring heads for cutting out the cusps of unmined coal along the ground during feeding movement of the boring head into the coal seam and loading the mined coal onto the conveyor.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a low vein type of continuous miner of the boring type having at least three rotary boring heads arranged in side by side relation with respect to each other for boring into a coal scam in overlapping relation with respect to each other, in which reduction in height of the machine is attained by providing rotary cutters spaced between each boring head and extending transversely of the boring heads for mining the depending cusps of unmined coal left between the boring heads and by providing gathering mechanism for gathering and loading the mined coal in the form of cutter chains having forward end portions extending along the ground for cutting out the upstanding cusps of unmined coal between the boring heads during the operation of loading the mined coal.

These and other objects of the invention will appear from time to time as the following specification proceeds and with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a continuous mining machine constructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a front end view of the machine shown in Figure 1 with certain parts broken away;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the forward end portion of the machine shown in Figure 1 with certain parts thereof broken away and certain other parts shown in horizontal section; and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along line 4-4 of Figure 2.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, we have generally shown in Figure 1 a continuous mining machine 10 of the rotary boring type, in which a plurality of boring heads 11 may cut out an entire seam of coal from the mine floor to the mine roof by driving intersecting bores directly into the coal face. The bores at their points of intersection are shown as leaving two spaced upstanding cusps of unmined coal extending upwardly from the mine floor in the spaces between adjacent boring heads, as illustrated by dot and dash lines and designated by reference character 12 in Figure 2. The intersecting bores also leave similar cusps depending from the mine roof, between adjacent boring heads. Spaced rotary cutter bars 13, supported rearwardly of the boring heads 11 and mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis extending perpendicular to the axes of rotation of the boring heads 11, are provided to cut along the roof in the spaces between the boring heads 11, to cut out the depending cusps of unmined coal and provide a flat roof from one rib of the entry to the other.

The continuous mining machine generally comprises a main frame 15 supported on ground-engaging continuous traction tread device 16, for transporting the machine from working place to working place, and feeding the boring heads 11 into the working face of a coal seam.

The continuous traction tread devices 16 are suitably supported and guided for movement along opposite sides of the main frame 15 and are driven from individual motors 17, through suitable gear reduction trains (not shown). The motors 17 are herein shown as being mounted between said traction tread devices. The mounting of said motors and drive to said traction tread devices may be of any well known form and is no part of the present invention so need not be shown or described further herein. A conveyor 19 is shown as extending along the main frame 15 from a position forwardly of the forward end of said main frame beyond the rear end of said main frame, for conveying the mined coal deposited thereon by gathering devices 20, beyond the rear end of said main frame for discharge into a room conveyor, shuttle car or the like.

The conveyor 19 is shown as being a well known form of center strand endless chain and flight type of conveyor, which is laterally flexible to accommodate lateral swinging movement of an overhanging discharge end portion 21 of the conveyor by operation of hydraulic swing jacks 22, as well known to those skilled in the art so not herein shown or described further.

The conveyor 19 has an inclined elevating forward end portion 23 extending from a position adjacent the ground in advance of the forward end of said main frame, and having an inclined apron 25 extending across the forward end of said conveyor and forwardly therefrom to the ground and beyond opposite sides of said conveyor. The apron 25 also extends upwardly along opposite sides of the inclined portion of said conveyor and converges toward said conveyor between the traction tread devices 16, as shown in Figures 1 and 3. The outer side margins of the apron 25 have retaining walls 26 extending upwardly therefrom and therealong and merging into side walls 27 of the conveyor 19. The conveyor 19 may be driven in any suitable manner, such as by a hydraulic motor 29 mounted on a side wall 30 of the discharge end portion 21 of the conveyor, and driving the conveyor through a suitable gear train (not shown), contained within a gear housing 31.

The gathering devices 20 consist in a pair of cutter bars 33 extending along opposite sides of the conveyor 19 and mounted on the apron 25 and extending in the plane of said apron and in advance of the forward end of said apron in parallel reation with respect to the ground. The cutter bars 33 have cutter chains 34 guided for orbital movement thereabout and are shown as being flared angularly outwardly with respect to the side walls of the conveyor 19 as they extend upwardly therealong to position the cutter chains 34 and cutter blocks 35 thereof laterally beyond the side walls of the conveyor 19 as they change their direction of travel about the rear end portions of the cutter bars 33.

The cutter chains 34 are of the type commonly employed in kerf-cutting machines and include the connected cutter blocks 35 having cutter bits 36 suitably mounted thereon and projecting outwardly therefrom. As herein shown, certain cutter blocks 35 extend horizontally from the cutter bar 33 while certain other cutter blocks 35 extend upwardly and downwardly with respect to the center of the horizontally extending cutting cutter blocks, to position the cutter bits 36 to out along the mine floor and to cut clearance for the cutter bars 33 as the boring heads 11 advance into the working face.

The cutter chains 34 are suitably guided about the cutter bars 33 and change their direction of travel at the rear ends of said cutter bars about drive sprockets 37 driven from individual motors 39, which may be fluid pressure operated motors, and which are shown in Figure 1 as being mounted beneath the apron 25.

The forward end portions of the cutter bars 33 extend horizontally when the machine is in a cutting position, and are positioned at their forward ends to be directly in alignment adjacent their longitudinal center lines with uncut portions left between the overlapping mining heads 11 forming the cusps of unmined coal 12. The cutter bars 33, therefore, position the cutter blocks 35 and bits 36 to completely cut out the cusps 12 as the cutter chains pick up the mined coal from the ground and load it onto the receiving end of the inclined elevating portion of the conveyor 19 and the machine advances to feed the cutter bits into the upstanding cusps.

The main frame 15 has spaced arms 40 and 41 extending along each side thereof, forwardly of the forward end thereof and along opposite sides of the traction tread devices 16. The arms 40 and 41 form outboard supports for a transverse beam 43, extending over the conveyor 19 in advance of the forward end of the traction tread devices 16. The beam 43 forms a support for an outboard gear housing 44, supporting the boring heads 11 for rotatable movement with respect thereto.

The beam 43 is shown in Figure 4 as being hollow and generally triangular in cross-section. The beam 43 has forked lugs 45 extending forwardly therefrom adjacent opposite ends thereof, having piston rods 46 trunnion between the furcations thereof. The piston rods 46 extend from pistons (not shown), within cylinders 47. The cylinders 47 have flanges 49 extending vertically along the wall thereof and suitably secured to a rear wall 50 of the outboard gear housing 44. The cylinders 47 and piston rods 46 thus serve as jacks or rams for vertically moving the outboard gear housing 44 with respect to the beam 43 and holding said outboard gear housing in adjusted relation with respect to said beam.

The outboard gear housing 44 and boring heads 11 are maintained in the desired relation with respect to the ground during and after changes in vertical height of said outboard gear housing and mining heads with respect to the beam 43, and are tilted to change the grade of the place being mined by means of a tilting cylinder 53 trunnioned within the hollow interior portion of the beam 43 on trunnion supports 54 extending inwardly of 4 a front wall 55 of said beam. The tilting cylinder 53 has a piston rod 57 extensible therefrom, and pivotally connected at its forward end on a pivot pin 60, mounted between spaced ears 59, extending rearwardly from the wall 50 of the outboard gear housing 44.

Thrust from the boring heads 11 and outboard gear housing 44 is taken on the beam 43 on an upright horn or pusher post 61 secured at its lower end to the rear Wall 50 of the outboard gear housing 44 and extending upwardly therealong in parallel spaced relation with respect thereto. The horn 61 extends between pivoted bearing shoes 63 slidably engaging the forward and rear ends thereof. The bearing shoes 63 are mounted on pivot pins 65 mounted at their ends in spaced ears 66 extending forwardly of the forward wall 55 of the beam 43. The bearing shoes 63 thus transmit the boring thrust to the beam 43 and accommodate tilting movement of the gear housing 44 and boring heads llwith respect to said beam, by operation of the tilting cylinder 53.

The boring heads 11 are well known forms of boring heads commonly used in boring types of continous mining machines, so need only herein be shown and described in sufficient detail to render our invention readily understandable. Each boring head 11 has an arm 67 extending radially from a hub 69 mounted on a drive shaft 70. The arm 67 is of a fixed length and has an arcuate segment 71 extending forwardly of the outer end thereof, the arc of which is struck from the center of rotation of the arm 67. The segment 71 has circumferentially spaced cutter blocks 73 extending forwardly therefrom and carrying cutter bits 74. The bits 74 are pitched at different angles with respect to each other to cut clearance for the blocks and segments during rotatable movement of the arm 67.

An arm 75 extends from the hub 69 in a diametrically opposite direction from the arm 67. The arm 75 is hollow and has an arm 76 telescopically mounted therein and having an arcuate segment 77 extending forwardly from the outer end thereof. Cutter blocks 78 carrying bits 79 extend forwardly of the arcuate segment 77. The bits 79 are pitched at varying angular relationships with respect to each other, to cut clearance for the arcuate segment 77 and cut a circular swath in the coal face of a larger diameter than the swath cut by the cutter bits 74. The arm 76 may be extensibly and retractibly adjusted with respect to the arm 75 and may be held in position with respect to said arm to vary the diameter of the bore by a power driven screw type of adjusting mechanism such as is shown in Patent No. 2,772,870, dated December 4, 1956, and no part of the present invention so not herein shown or described further.

A post 80 extends forwardly from the center of the boring head 11 and has annularly arranged pilot cutter blocks and bits 81 projecting forwardly therefrom in advance of the cutter blocks 73 and 78 and serving as pilot cutters. The post 80 has a breaker rib 83 extending rearwardly therealong, so formed as to break off the coal between the cutter blocks and bits 81 and the cutter blocks 73 and 78, to completely cut a circular bore in the mine face.

It will be seen from Figure 2 that the cutter blocks 73 and 78 of the three boring heads 11 are arranged out of phase with respect to each other so that the cutter blocks 78 and bits 79 on one boring head intersect the path of cutting of the cutter blocks 78 and bits 79 on the next adjacent boring head to completely mine all of the coal in the coal face except the upstanding cusps 12 spaced on opposite sides of the center boring head, and the depending cusps (not shown) mined out by the rotary cutters 13.

The drive to the boring heads 11 and rotary cutter bars 13 is through a universal drive connection including a universal joint 85 on the end of a shaft 86, driven through a suitable motor and speed reducer 87, mounted in the main frame 15, as shown in Figure 3. The universal joint 85 may be a constant velocity joint and drives a shaft 88 having driving connection with a second constant velocity universal joint 89 mounted on the outer end of a shaft 90 journaled within the outboard gear housing 44. The shaft 90 serves as a drive member for reduction gear trains indicated generally by reference character 91 and driving the shafts 70 for the three boring heads 11 and thereby driving said boring heads at the same rates of speed.

The rotary cutters 13 are shown as being drum types of cutters having cutter bits 93 projecting outwardly from the faces thereof for cutting out the depending cusps left between adjacent boring heads 11. As herein shown, said rotary cutters are mounted on a transversely extending drive shaft 95 spaced outwardly of a support plate 96 and journaled at one end in a bearing support 97 extending outwardly of said plate and intermediate its ends in a bearing support 99, spaced laterally from the bearing support 97 toward the opposite end of the plate 96 from the bearing support 97.

The shaft 95 may be driven in any well known manner, either from an independent motor or from the drive shaft 71 for a boring head 11. As herein shown, the shaft 95 is driven from the shaft 70 driving the left hand boring head. The drive from the shaft 70 to the shaft 95 is clearly shown and described in our companion application Serial No. 665,062, now Patent No. 2,868,528 filed herewith so need not herein be shown or described in detail. The drive generally is through a shaft 100 journaled within a housing 101 rotatably mounted on the hub 69 for the left hand boring head. A bevel gear drive (not shown) is provided for driving the shaft 100 from the shaft 70. The shaft 100 has driving connection with the shaft 95 through a universal coupling and spur gear train (not shown) contained within a gear casing 103, mounted on the shaft 95 and extending downwardly therefrom, as in our aforementioned companion application, so not shown or described herein. A drive is thus provided from the shaft 70 to the shaft 95 accommodating vertical adjustment of the shaft 95 with respect to the shaft 70, as shown and described in our aforementioned companion application.

The plate 96 and rotary cutters 13 are vertically adjusted to accommodate the machine to mine in various heights of coal seams by means of screw jacks 105 seated at their lower ends in seats 106 projecting forwardly of the outboard gear housing 44 adjacent the lower end thereof and inwardly of the outermost shafts 70. The upper ends of said screw jacks are carried within housings 107 secured to the forward face of the plate 96. A motor 109, shown in Figure 2 as being a fluid pressure operated motor, is provided to drive the screw jacks 105 by power. A shaft 110 connects the two screw jacks together. The screw jacks 105 and the drive connection thereto for driving the jacks together and thereby elevating or lowering the rotary cutters 13 by power are clearly shown and described in our aforementioned companion application Serial No. 665,062. and are no part of the present invention so need not herein be shown or described further.

It may be seen from the foregoing that the boring heads 11 may be vertically adjusted by vertically moving the outboard gear housing 44 by operation of the jacks 47 and that the sectors 77 and cutter bit carrying blocks 78 may be adjustably moved inwardly or outwardly with respect to the center of rotation of the boring heads to position the boring heads to cut along the mine floor as the outboard gear housing 44 is adjustably moved to accommodate the boring heads for varying heights of coal. It may further be seen that as the boring heads 11 are adjusted to cut from the roof to floor of the coal seam, that the rotary cutters 13 may be correspondingly adjusted by operation of the screw jacks 105 to cut out the depending cusps of unmined coal left between adjacent boring heads along the mine roof.

In operation of the machine, the mining machine is propelled along the working place to the face thereof,

with the boring heads 11 extending at right angles with respect to the working face to cut directly into the working face. Assuming the boring heads are adjusted to cut from the roof to the floor of the seam, and that the rotary cutters 13 between the boring heads are positioned to cut off the depending cusps of unmined coal left between the boring heads along the mine roof, power may be supplied to operate the motor and gear reduction train 87 for rotatably driving the three boring heads together and rotatably driving the rotary cutters 13 through the shaft 100. The gathering devices 23 and conveyor 19 may also put into operation by supplying power to their individual motors. The boring heads 11 may then be advanced into the working face by the continuous traction tread devices 16, feeding said boring heads into the working face to cutout the entire seam between opposite ribs of the working place, leaving the upstanding cusps 12 extending upwardly from the mine floor and similar cusps extending downwardly from the mine roof. Continued feeding movement of the boring heads will then bring the rotary cutters 13 into engagement with the depending cusps to completely mine said cusps and provide a clean roof from one rib of the working place to the other. Further advancing movement of the mining machine will then bring the cutter bits 36 into engagement with the upstanding cusps extending upwardly from the mine floor, to cutout said cusps along the mine floor and leave a clean floor from one rib of the working place to the other, it being understood that during the mining and advancing operations that the cutter blocks 35 and bits 36 besides cutting out the upstanding cusps and providing a clean floor from one rib of the mine to the other also pick up the material as it is mined and load it onto the conveyor 19.

It may be seen from the foregoing that we have provided an efiicient and compact continuous mining apparatus of the boring type particularly adapted for operation in thin seams of coal and eliminating the usual chains formerly required for cutting out the cusps of unmined coal left between the boring heads of the machine, and instead cutting out the upstanding cusps from the floor by the loading devices for the mined coal, and cutting out the depending cusps by the rotary bar cutters extending transversely of the boring heads and spaced rearwardly thereof.

It may also be seen that this provides a compact and efiicient machine and that the elimination of the chains heretofore required to out out the cusps extending upwardly from the floor and downwardly from the roof, besides simplifying the structure of the machine also makes it possible to greatly reduce the height thereof, thereby making the machine applicable for mining thin seams of coal.

While we have herein shown and described one form in which our invention may be embodied, it will be understood that various modifications and variations thereof may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

We claim as our invention:

In a continuous mining machine, a main frame, laterally spaced continuous traction tread devicw supporting said main frame, an elevating conveyor extending along said main frame from a position adjacent the ground in advance thereof and rearwardly along said main frame beyond the rear end thereof, three rotary boring heads mounted on said main frame for rotation about laterally spaced parallel axes extending longitudinally of the machine, a central of said boring heads extending across the front of said elevating conveyor, means for rotatably driving said boring heads, means for driving said traction tread devices and feeding said boring heads directly into a working face for mining the coal from the roof to floor of the seam in a plurality of simultaneously driven intersecting bores extending from one rib to the other of the 7 working face and leaving cusps at the points of intersection of the bores, depending from the mine roof and extending upwardly from the mine floor, cutter means spaced rearwardly of said boring heads for cutting out the cusps depending from the mine roof, gathering devices extending along each side of the forward end portion of said conveyor in advance thereof to positions adjacent the ground, between said boring heads, and including cutter bars extending along opposite sides of said conveyor beyond the forward end thereof, cutter chains orbitally driven about said cutter bars and having cutter bits projecting therefrom, the forward end portions of said cutter bars being spaced rearwardly of said boring heads and in direct alignment with the intersections of the bores cut by said boring heads, and positioning said cutter chains to change their directions of travel along the mine floor beneath the intersections of the bores, to cut out the upstanding cusps left between said bores and gather and load the mined material progressed to said gathering de- 5 vices by said boring heads onto said conveyor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 2,694,562 Snyder et a1 Nov. 16, 1954 2,734,731 Cartlidge et al. Feb. 14, 1956 2,777,681 Ball Ian. 15, 1957 2,793,848 Moon May 28, 1957 2,796,244 Gonski June 18, 1957 15 2,802,654 Gonski Aug. 13, 1957 

